Vienna has a youthful side, too, and is visited yearly by backpackers as much as mainline culture aficionados -- something Richard Linklater celebrated in his 1995 film "Before Sunrise, " which charted two strangers falling in love in the course of one day, with Vienna as the romantic backdrop.

CNN: Luxuriating in 'Old World' Vienna

At 81, the amiable Mr. Strachwitz, whose family relocated to the U.S. West Coast in 1947, recalls falling first for early jazz when seeing the Louis Armstrong-Billie Holliday film "New Orleans" as a teenager, then hearing everything from hardcore hillbilly to "Harlem Matinee" and the Serbo-Croatian hour on Los Angeles-area radio.

WSJ: Five Decades of Arhoolie Records | By Barry Mazor

Eric Rohmer constructed his latest film, from 2004, on his old theme: the danger of falling for a false love while awaiting a real one.

NEWYORKER: Triple Agent

After this film, I will never be able to hear the knock of pinecones falling onto a roof without wondering if they were deliberately thrown.

NEWYORKER: Family Farm